68 LIFE HISTOKIES OF iJJOilTH AMEKIUAIvr BIRDS. 



This well-marked and easily recognized subspecies, Avitliin the United 

 States inhabits the dense undergTowth usually found along the sides of canons 

 and the clear mountain streams running through these, from an altitude of 

 7,000 to 10,000 feet, and, excepting in the fall and winter, it is rarely seen in 

 the lower foothills or plains. Considering the isolated localities it inhabits, 

 where it is seldom molested by man, it is an extremely shy bird, nuich more 

 so than the Canadian Ruffed Grouse, and is not nearly so abundant as the 

 latter. It haljits are similar; and, besides the usual food used by the members 

 of this family, in the late fall it feeds, to a great extent, on the leaves and fruit 

 of a species of wild plum, growing in abundance along the foothills of the 

 Big Horn Mountains in Montana, where, at that time of the year, it is often 

 found associated with the Sharp-tailed Grouse, and not uncommon. The 

 "/v(^,s-," instead of being of the usual dark color, are, in an occasional spec- 

 imen, of a beautiful bronze or coppery hue. 



The nesting habits also, as well as the eggs of the Gray Ruffed Grouse, 

 are in no Avay different from those of the preceding subspecies. 



Mr. Robert S. Williams, of Great flails, Montana, writes me: "I tbund 

 a nest of this subspecies July 3, 1889; it was placed under the trunk of a 

 fallen cottonwood tree, which rested about a foot from the ground. C)therwise 

 the nest was not concealed in any way. The eggs, eleven in number, were 

 evidently ahout to hatch, and I did not disturb them. Visiting the nest the 

 succeeding day, the old bird let me climb over the fallen trunk above her 

 without leaving tlie eggs." 



Mr. W. H. Dall, U. S. Coast Survey, found the Gray Ruffed Grouse nest- 

 ing near Nulato, Alaska, in May, and a set of eggs were found in an old ^^■illow 

 stump. The average measurement of twenty-nine eggs in the U. S. National 

 Museum collection is 40.5 by 30 millimetres. The largest egg of the series 

 measures 43 by 31.5, the smallest 38 by 30 millimetres. The type specimen, 

 (No. 22830, PI. 2, Fig. 3), was taken May 18, 1886, by Mr. Ernest E. Thomp- 

 son, near Carbeny, Manitoba. It is of a pure rich cream color and unspotted. 



23. Bonasa umbellus sabini (Douglas). 



ORPXiON RUFFED GROUSE. 



Tefrao sabini Douglas, Transactions LiiinK>au Society, xvi, iii,"l830, 1.37. 

 Bonasa umbellus var. sahitiei CouES, Key to North American Birds, 1872, 335. 



(B 466, C SSob, R 4:73b, C 567, U 300c.) 



Geographical range : Coast Mountains of northern California, Oregon, Wash- 

 ington, and British Columbia. 



The range of the Oregon Ruffed Grouse, the darkest and handsomest race 

 of the genus Bonasa, is restricted to the wooded portions of country between 

 the western slopes of the Coast Range and the Pacific Ocean, as well as the 

 islands adjacent thereto. It is found from about latitude 57°, in the vicinity of 

 Sitka, Alaska, south through western British Columbia, western Washington, 



